What is the standard wedding processing time? Before clients can view?

[capturedexpressions]

I tell clients 4-6 weeks, just curious what the standard is? I've gotten a big gulp from clients when I've told them that before. Is that too long? Also, what is the standard on album design?

Thanks!

[shannyD]

i dont know. ive only been married twice to the same guy ( military thing). but our photographer from our wedding had told us two weeks, then never ever sent anything to us. we had to even hassle him for dvd for the pics of our wedding. and his pics sucked.

i think 6 weeks is too long ( imo) and 4 is acceptable. anything under 4 weeks is even better.

but this is spoken from the client end, not the pro end. ill never shoot a wedding for pay.

shannon

[sblais]

I almost always get the proofs website ready in a week. Sometimes, it's ready on the Sunday following the wedding (i.e. the next day). Sometimes, it may take me a bit longer, but it's more the exception than the norm for me.

[capturedexpressions]

I almost always get the proofs website ready in a week. Sometimes, it's ready on the Sunday following the wedding (i.e. the next day). Sometimes, it may take me a bit longer, but it's more the exception than the norm for me.


Do you not do a lot of photoshopping to the images? How many hours do you think you put into them in that week? I think that is the difference with me.

[sapearl]

I usually tell my clients that the online proof gallery will be up in less than 10 days. This gives me some fudge time if I'm really busy. Usually though I will send them an email in less than a week with the link and password.

My actual lab proofs take a little longer - but usually less than 3 weeks. After I FTP them to the lab their turnaround is less than 24 hours, - but UPS shipping is involved so that adds a day or two. Then I need a little time to insert them in the proof albums. Call it 2-3 weeks for the proof books.

Now for "Album Assembly", I tell them 8-10 weeks from the time that they bring their order back to me for their final book. I do all the assembly myself. The lab sends me the finished enlargements, and then I insert them in the bound books. - Stu

[sblais]

Do you not do a lot of photoshopping to the images? How many hours do you think you put into them in that week? I think that is the difference with me.

I'm using a few scripts (that I wrote) in Photoshop and a few actions that I tweaked over time. It saves me a lot of time. For a typical all-day wedding, I can say that it would take me about 8-10 hours to get the proof website up.

Remember that I don't do any cloning work on my proofs (or almost none). Most of the time my pictures don't need any, but if they do (sometimes I take the picture intentionally with a distracting element that can be easily cloned out to facilitate the composition, etc), it's usually done after the clients make their selection.

Having a good workflow is the key to not spend your life doing PP.

[sapearl]

I shoot everything RAW and process them through ACR - it will take me about 4 hours to process and cull 475-550 images.

Now, this is just global adjustment for WB, exposure, highlight, shadow, etc..... I don't do ANY actual photoshop retouching at this stage in the game. They are just proofs, only 4x6 for the lab prints and it would just be a waste of time for me. If they order enlargements or final shots for an album, then I will import them to PS for final sharpenning and any other "enhancements."

Do you not do a lot of photoshopping to the images? How many hours do you think you put into them in that week? I think that is the difference with me.

[sapearl]

What Sebastien says - VERY IMPORTANT - once you have that setup you can pretty much fly through your procedure ;).

......
Having a good workflow is the key to not spend your life doing PP.

[capturedexpressions]

What Sebastien says - VERY IMPORTANT - once you have that setup you can pretty much fly through your procedure ;).

You are right. I tend to burn in on a lot of images, do more cropping, leveling, etc. I'm sure I'll get better at doing those things from the beginning as I go. I also pick some favs to do some special effects to. I shoot RAW and process through Lightroom. I guess I can have that all done in 4 hours for one photographer. My last wedding I spent time cloning bird droppings off the railings and such.

Thanks for the insight!

[jessiper]

I try to get them done by the next Saturday, but every once in a while it's up to 2 weeks.

[jillybean]

My general lead time is 2-3 weeks for 4x6 proofs. But I am doing it the slow method and PS them each so they are ready to go. Not smart- but works for me until I get Lightroom.

[Toogy]

mine is up to 21 days. I usually try and get them back within 2 weeks.

[Jimbo24]

I tell my clients 2 weeks but I normally have them ready in a few days...

[picturecrazy]

i tell them two months. seriously. usually doesn't take longer than a month.

you guys give yourself no breathing room! what happens if a family member gets sick and you are away for three weeks? crap happens!

not to mention, I spend a lot of time traveling so I lose many days due to that. I would pad my estimates a lot more if I were you...

[bobrock111565]

Hey guys...this is where Lightroom really shines. Yes, I know there are still many that don't want yet another program....but you can process all your RAW settings, white balance, saturation, exposure, fill light, curves, whatever, whatever and apply ALL the settings to those in the group that are similar. Saves TONS of time. Just came from all day seminar with Scott Kelby yesterday....amazing how much time this can save.
Bob

[capturedexpressions]

Looks like it's all over the board. I do small sessions (seniors, family, babies, etc) in 1 week but normally it takes me working 1/2 days to get done in a month. Maybe I should meet in the middle and go 3 weeks. OR TAKE ON LESS WORK! :rolleyes:

Thanks for the input!

[Jon Rouston]

If you tell them 2 weeks and deliver in 2 weeks they will be satisfied.

If you tell them 6 weeks and deliver in 2 weeks they will be impressed.

Impressed clients are more likely to refer, and like Lloyd says, you have breathing room if anything goes wrong.

[suyenfung]

yeah i've been doing 8 weeks. i've been dealing iwth anxious couples but working a full time day job i've needed the time! it is one of my goals to be faster but i don't think i'm going to change the estimated time. better to give them the pleasant surprise of early delivery and leave room for whatever might come up that could delay the process.

[sblais]

i tell them two months. seriously. usually doesn't take longer than a month.

you guys give yourself no breathing room! what happens if a family member gets sick and you are away for three weeks? crap happens!

not to mention, I spend a lot of time traveling so I lose many days due to that. I would pad my estimates a lot more if I were you...

I tell my clients up to a month... What I posted above was my typical processing time... But I do give myself some breathing room!

[bobrock111565]

I've known wedding shooters that put up a web gallery first. This can be done VERY quickly in PS or Lightroom. This gives the client time to browse the images for days and days, get the family and friends involved, etc...This buys LOTS of time. In fact, he tells them to please take their time, get their families opinions, etc...Then by the time they decide which images they like, the post processing is mostly done. They don't seem to be an conscious of the time delays this way.

[Bobster]

well the couple should be away on their hunnymoon for 2 wks, we usually put pics up online (white balanced, levels adjusted etc) within the week.. takes an hr or so to kull bad images, put aside the dupes for closed eye replacement etc, then another couple of adjusting in C1 and then output low res (3x2" takes about 1hr for 600 pics) ready to put through PS to copyright and watermark and then uploaded to the website..

[tim]

I tell people 30 days, but they're usually ready within 3 days (proofs go straight to the top of my todo list). Usually when people come back from their honeymoon I have them come to my office, I show them a slide show of about 50-75 of their images, and they leave with a proof DVD and the URL for online proofing. If they've paid for printed proofs or a proof book (rare) that takes me an extra 3-5 days.

[mizuno]

I try to exceed expectations, therefore I tell them longer than I think it will take.

As Lloyd said, this gives me breathing room and happy clients when I deliver them fast than they were expecting.

[morlia]

for my engagements, and the one wedding I did, I tell them 1week (engagement) and 3weeks (wedding) and do something very simular to TIm. I usually go to their house and present them with a slideshow dvd. Then we go online and I show them where their proofs are, show them where to enter their password...etc. I do this in person to make sure that they are satisfied with thier photos. I found when I would just put them on the website and wouldn't hear from them, that it made me crazy wondering if something was wrong.

[paul33]

I tell them four days, deliver in two or three.

Delivery is a web gallery of fully post-processed images of between 150 and 300 in number. Proofs follow as soon as they return from honeymoon.

It means a couple of days of hard graft after the wedding but it gets me completely clear before next weekend's wedding and gets the images on view as quick as if not quicker than most of the Uncle Bobs out there !!!

[liza]

I tell them two to three weeks for processing and uploading to an online proofing gallery.

[lil_miss]

At the moment we tell ours 3-4 weeks but aim for 3. This is purely because what they receive is the final product (eg prints) already edited (although not heavily) and with working a fulltime job also - I need the time to do them on nights and weekends.

If you're not really editing and doing batch processing then between a week and 2 weeks would be acceptable. 6 weeks is probably ok if you explain to the client exactly what you're doing with that time - eg extensive editing, album design or whatever. I dont think it should take that long to just produce proofs, which then incur additional time while you 'process' those properly.

[tony fanning]

I usually say 2 weeks or when they get back from honeymoon, whichever is the longest!

[TimSewell]

I generally guarantee online proofing and ordering by Thursday for a Saturday wedding - don't do printed proofs.
21 working days for print orders.
Up to 12 weeks for Albums/printed books

[TimSewell]

I should add that I'm soon going to elongate those times as I want more time to offer some special versions of images in the online galleries, am considering proofing books, and most of them are off on honeymoon anyway!

[DigitalSpecialist]

Since LR I have spead up my PP time. But with my last wedding for a co-worker I had proofs ready in 3 days, and prints going to the printer after 2 weeks.

[JMHPhotography]

I say 4-6 weeks but I've never gone beyond 4 weeks. If I pushed myself, I could have them done in a couple of days, but after a wedding, I like to avoid looking at the pictures right away so that the pictures will be easier to cull. I find that if I can forget what I've shot, I can go through them as though I'm looking at them like a client for the first time. Sounds odd, I know... but I'm an odd person anyway.

[sapearl]

No odder than a bunch of the folks already here...:lol:.

Actually, that's a not a bad idea to "cull them" with a fresh look forkball. It can give you a fresh, more neutral perspective. My problem is I get too excited about my stuff and like to see it right away :rolleyes:.

....., but after a wedding, I like to avoid looking at the pictures right away so that the pictures will be easier to cull. I find that if I can forget what I've shot, I can go through them as though I'm looking at them like a client for the first time. Sounds odd, I know... but I'm an odd person anyway.

[maytay20]

I usually tell them 4-6 weeks, but I have only had 1 wedding take me that long and they had asked for a lot of photo shopping ahead of time. I try to have them done in at least 2 weeks so the emotion of the wedding is there still and hopefully it will encourage more ordering.

[FamilyJules]

eeesh, how do you ppl get them up within 3 days!? WOW! I think I do WAY too much processing... LOL.
I tell my client between 3-6 weeks. Like Loyd, I like to give myself a little breathing room. But I always make an effort to email them a few sneak peeks of some of the "winners" to hold them over. My clients always love that

[sapearl]

Hi Julie - how many images are you shooting? The largest number I'll present is under 600, and I am only doing RAW global processing. I don't do any CS3 specific "fixes" like blemish removal, hair removal, things like that. All of this will take about 3-5 manhours of works depending upon quantity.

Perhaps you are making your proofs look to beautiful and perfect? :D

eeesh, how do you ppl get them up within 3 days!? WOW! I think I do WAY too much processing... LOL.
I tell my client between 3-6 weeks. Like Loyd, I like to give myself a little breathing room. But I always make an effort to email them a few sneak peeks of some of the "winners" to hold them over. My clients always love that